12v Charging Problems - Regulator??

Submitted: Tuesday, Apr 07, 2015 at 12:08
ThreadID: 117373 Views:2282 Replies:3 FollowUps:3
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I have recently purchased 3 x 120AH AGM deep cycle batteries. I have 2 x 200w solar panels on the shed roof (nearly 5yrs old). I have calculated my daily amp hour use at about 70ah/day. (Water pump, Waeco HD220 upright fridge, Radio running through the inverter, LED lights.) I have boosted my stored power so I can run a 12v TV and a stereo off the inverter. These items are not hooked up yet, but when they are, I expect my usage would be about 100ah/day. All the calculations I have done seem to suggest that 400w of panels should be ample to keep the the batteries charged as I only want to draw down 30-40% of the batteries.
The solar reg was a cheap chinese ebay job (nearly 5yrs old).
My problem is that over the last week since I connected the new new batteries, they are not charging much at all. I have had good sunlight (Bridgetown WA). but at the end of the day they are showing 12.4 - 12.6v. This morning they were down to 11.5v!
The solar reg display shows that during the day I am getting good volts from the panels (VpV?), but the power going into the battery (IPV??) is very low. Reading less than 2-3 during a sunny day.
My uneducated brain is telling me that the panels are working? but the power is not flowing to batteries, hence the slow loss of power over the last week.
QUESTION TO THE GURUS OF 12v - Should I buy another 200w panel to be sure to be sure? Should I buy a new Solar Regulator (MPPT?) or Should I buy both?
Can the batteries be discharging somehow? leakage?
Looking forward to some help, as I don't want to bugger up $1000 worth of batteries.

cheers


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